An Experience at Einstein's- A Social Equivalency

 I travel for work once weekly to Knoxville. I leave at 0630, a time when I'm not hungry, so I stop in Farragut to get breakfast. There is an Einstein's there, and I like their bagel sandwiches. I've had many great experiences at Einstein's. This was not one of them.

The store has a mandatory mask policy, and while this is largely pointless it does no harm. Being deeply immunosuppressed at this time I have to wear a mask anyway, so no complaints here about the policy. My only feeling is that if you have a policy you need to adhere to it. All the store employees were masked, many of them with funny corporate masks with their mustache logo. All except one girl, about 20, whose 'mask' was well below her nose and occasionally below her mouth. To add to the problem she was the one picking and slicing bagels. If you believe covid is going to be passed by droplet contamination of food she was a major risk.

I brought this to the attention of the store manager, who said she would address it. That was two weeks ago. This week I stopped in again. Same girl was doing the same job, same mask failure. I again called it to the manager, same woman, who pulled the girl off the line and spoke with her. The girl was visibly upset, but returned to the line without any adjustment to her mask. Her nose and occasionally her mouth were still exposed. Now she was angry, tossing bagels into the slicer, almost throwing them at her colleagues. No action from the manager.

I told the manager I was not coming back. She comped my sandwich, but that wasn't the point. What they are doing is wrong, contrary to their own policy, and potentially dangerous. And they did nothing. I felt powerless and angry, but at least I have several options for breakfast.

This struck me as a powerful analogy with problems faced by the black community. Police violence disproportionately affects black communities. Complaints to politicians and police hierarchy get no results. Policy says these actions are wrong, but they persist, often in policemen who are very angry. The big difference is that I can find another store selling breakfast, whereas most blacks are stuck not just in the US but in their communities, all too often overwhelmingly black and poor.

There is another aspect to this analogy as well. My reaction might have been different. I might have thrown a fit, yelling and throwing things. I would have gotten banned, then claim it was discrimination not my bad behavior that got me tossed. I could organize a protest, where some protesters threw rocks at employees, broke windows, and scrawled graffiti over the building. I could generalize my protest to the Farragut business strip on Campbell Station Road. I could loot the Einstein's, claiming the food I stole was payback for bad service.

Such acts would have gotten me arrested ten times over, and rightly so. Protests of police violence have themselves been violent, destroyed property, caused injuries and hundreds of millions of dollars in damages, even gotten people killed. Somehow arresting those causing violence and setting a curfew are considered violence in and of themselves, and the protesters are being condoned even when violent.

Government may turn a blind eye to violence, but citizens do not, especially those affected by it. Can you imagine how Einstein's customers would have reacted if I started turning over tables, shouting and grabbing food and management had done nothing? I would have been in danger of being shot. Inner city dwellers and store owners know perfectly well the damage being created by these 'peaceful protests'. 

Violence is not the way to complain or gain sympathy for your cause. If Einstein's and Farragut condoned or supported my protests by failing to arrest me, customers and stores would leave. That is exactly what is going to happen in the cities afflicted by these mobs. I would also be a pariah in stores, even if not charged with a crime. The same is true of the perception of black neighborhoods. The very people who have been mistreated are, by their self-expression, alienating society.

Regardless of circumstances, expressing your needs with violence is wrong. What applies in Einstein's applies just as much for groups. And use of violence and destruction is a quick way to set back your own cause. If you want to find that out, try smashing things or stealing food when you don't get your way. Unless you're in Portland or Chicago and claim you're a BLM protester, you're going to be arrested.

Ted